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Common household item almost kills puppy

A three-month-old puppy has been rushed to a Queensland vet after her owners suspected she had swallowed a battery.

Rose the Rhodesian Ridgeback was found playing with a packet of AAA batteries at home when her owners dreaded the worst after they found one missing.

They took her to the Animal Emergency Service clinic on the Sunshine Coast where an x-ray confirmed their fears.

“The x-ray was as clear as day. Rose had made a meal of the battery,” a post on the vet clinic’s Facebook page read.

3-month-old Rose (Left) decided to play with some AAA batteries and ended up swallowing one (Right).
Three-month-old Rose decided to play with some AAA batteries and ended up swallowing one. Source: Animal Emergency Service

As batteries can be lethal when swallowed, vets had to move fast and decided to try a non-invasive way to locate the battery and remove it, so performed an endoscopic retrieval.

“This is when a long, flexible tube with a lighted camera and a grasping tool at its tip is inserted down the oesophagus/stomach,” the post read

Thankfully the procedure worked and the puppy was able to return home to her worried family for lots of cuddles.

“Rose went home much happier with the promise to stay away from batteries in the future,” the vets at Animal Emergency Service wrote.

“Rose went home much happier with the promise to stay away from batteries in the future,” the vets at Animal Emergency Service wrote.
Rose went home much happier after the procedure to remove the battery. Source: Animal Emergency Service

Although Rose and her family had a happy ending, the lead vet at the clinic warns not all dogs who swallow batteries are as lucky as Rose.

“If they get stuck in the oesophagus, they can actually form a perforation all the way through the oesophagus wall,” Danielle Huston told 7News.

She added if a dog decided to bite down on a battery, the situation could be even worse and required an immediate trip to the vet.

“With the AA or AAA battery, they’re more of an issue if they’re perforated, so if the animal has chewed it up, then you’ve got an alkaline material leaking into the gastrointestinal tract,” she said.

“If there’s any suspicion that’s happened, the sooner they can see a vet, the better chance we’ve got of a good outcome.”

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